Anti-UN clashes spread to Haitian capital

Clashes have erupted between United Nations forces and hundreds of stone-throwing Haitians in Port-au-Prince after unrest targeting peacekeepers blamed for the cholera outbreak spread to the capital.

There had been fears violence could break out after protest organisers called a mass demonstration outside the health ministry for people to show their anger about cholera and the UN force, known as MINUSTAH.

Two Haitians were killed in riots in the northern city of Cap-Haitien on Monday, one shot by a UN peacekeeper as protesters set a police station and vehicles ablaze and threatened to torch a UN compound.

A police source said a third person was shot dead in fresh rioting in the city on Wednesday.

There are claims the cholera outbreak emanated from septic tanks at a base for UN peacekeepers from Nepal in central Haiti.

More than 1,100 Haitians have died since cholera was first detected in the nation in mid-October.

The number of people treated in hospitals and clinics has soared to 18,382.

President Rene Preval has pleaded for calm and MINUSTAH has linked the protests to November 28 presidential elections and called on Haitians not to allow themselves to be manipulated by "enemies of stability and democracy".

Officials have struggled to battle the disease, in a nation still shellshocked by January's massive earthquake that killed 250,000 people and left 1.3 million people homeless.